TheArt of
Practicing
I really should be
by Bruce Berr
I do apologize to Gary
Graffman for filching his title as
blatantly as I have, but let's face
it-although the quality of one's
practice may be just one factor
in determining how fast and far
one progresses at the piano, it's
a critical one.
In the studio lessons and piano classes
I teach, a large percentage of the time is
devoted to how to practice effectively,
mainly because the strategies and
techniques for doing so are not obvious.
Learning to play an instrument and grow
as a musician requires complex skills
that sometimes betray common sense
and occasionally seem to contradict one
another. Also, the lure of "eating the fruit"-
the delectable music itself-distracts one
from "pulling the weeds"-that which
is necessary to master the required
mechanics. Interestingly, the more musical
the student, the less patient the student
usually is in this process, at least at first.
Without guidance from a teacher, many students become frustrated
during practice: How do I get my hands
14
Clavier Companion
July/August 2017